Properties of the ionisation glitch: I. Modelling the ionisation region

Context. Determining the properties of solar-like oscillating stars can be subject to many biases. A particularly important example is the helium-mass degeneracy, where the uncertainties regarding the internal physics can cause a poor determination of both the mass and surface helium content. Accordingly, an independent helium estimate is needed to overcome this degeneracy. A promising way to obtain such an estimate is to exploit the so-called ionisation glitch, that is, the deviation from the asymptotic oscillation frequency pattern caused by the rapid structural variation in the He ionisation zones. Aims. Although it is progressively becoming more sophisticated, the glitch-based approach faces problems inherent to its current modelling such as the need for calibration using realistic stellar models. This requires a physical model of the ionisation region that explicitly involves the parameters of interest, such as the surface helium abundance, Ys. Methods. Through a thermodynamic treatment of the ionisation region, an analytical approximation for the first adiabatic exponent Γ1 is presented. Results. The induced stellar structure is found to depend on only three parameters, including the surface helium abundance Ys and the electron degeneracy ψCZ in the convective region. The model thus defined allows a wide variety of structures to be described, and it is in particular able to approximate a realistic model in the ionisation region. The modelling work we conducted enables us to study the structural perturbations causing the glitch. More elaborate forms of perturbations than those that are usually assumed are found. It is also suggested that there might be a stronger dependence of the structure on the electron degeneracy in the convection zone and on the position of the ionisation region rather than on the amount of helium itself. Conclusions. When analysing the ionisation glitch signature, we emphasise the importance of having a relation that can take these additional dependences into account.